Dallas

I had a bit of a hassle getting to the Greyhound bus station but somehow or other managed to get on a bus right away. It wasn't what I wanted, but what the hell.The bus was fairly direct with only one other stop in north Dallas. It as just as well I didn't want to get off there as I wouldn't have understood shit, everyone was speaking Spanish. A little Japanese is my limit, I am English after all and we don't do well at any language other than our own and sometimes not even that. Aj, my couch surfing host was due to pick me up at 7.30 pm so I settled in to wait at the station. He was right on time and took me back to his girlfriends place. Douchka is half Spanish and half French but has a Russian name, she also has two gorgeous cats. I do miss having a pet, when I get settled that's one of the first things I'm going to get, a pet. Although as a sad middle aged, single woman I can't have cats!! We all went to a local Italian restaurant for dinner and I tried another local beer. I love most local beers I've tried so far with the exception of the Texas Lone Star.
The next day I went into down town Dallas, I went to the 6th Floor museum first. The museum, as the name suggests, is on the 6th floor of the Texas Book Depository, where Lee Harvey Oswald supposedly shot J.F.K.. They've left his "snipers lair" pretty much as it was and the window is still open. You can look out from the building to the road below and see exactly where J.F.K. was shot, the spot is marked on the road with a white "X ". I'm not sure what I think of that, informative yes, disturbing yes, should it be there? I don't know. The exhibition itself isn't that great, there is some background on the Kennedy presidency but they haven't made a real effort to tie the events of that day into the overall period. There is an awful lot of reading, a couple of videos, a few photos but not much in the way of physical exhibits. Despite this it was good to go and I would really recommend the L.B.J. library for a broader view of that period in history. From the museum I walked to the J.F.K. memorial, which is literally a concrete box. It's not nice and I wonder what the Kennedy family thought of it when it was opened.
I walked across town to the convention centre, not for the building but for the huge sculpture in front of it. It's a herd of Longhorn cows being driven by four cowboys. It's an awesome sculpture and so Texan. It's great, I love it. I made it to the Chase Tower, which I didn't do in Houston and went up to the free observation deck. The view isn't great as the deck is in the middle of the building so you can only see from two sides and one of those sides does not look towards the river. I wandered a little around West Bend, an arty, hippy area of downtown before going back to the apartment. Aj had a friend coming to stay and he had plans for us that evening. Aj, me and Ursula his friend went to the Crow Collection museum. They have just started a music programme, once a month they will some group / singers from an Asian country to come in and give a performance at the museum. This ties in with the collection as it is all Asian art. I have to be honest I wasn't too fussed about the art figuring that I would have seen a lot of similar stuff before. And in part that was true but they were things that I hadn't seen and some really good examples of things I had. Another lesson in not judging a book by it's cover.The group was playing Indonesian music and there was free wine and beer on offer. Add in the fact that the museum makes an amazing setting and it was turning into a good night out.
Ursula that asked if one of her friends could join us, of course we said no problem but it ended up putting a dampener on the night for me. It's not that her friend wasn't nice or interesting to talk to, but he obviously only really wanted to spend time with her since she doesn't make it to the U.S. very often. After we left the museum we went back to Aj's local area, Bishop, and went to the art walk there. I was having a good time and Aj was talking to some of his friends and the other two had wandered off as the "music was too loud". We then changed venue to a gay bar that was having a karaoke night. It was a really cool place and I soon made friends, but again it was "too loud" so we all went back to the apartment. Needless to say I was glad when the whole uncomfortable evening came to an end and I could go to sleep.
Friday morning Aj dropped me off at the train station and we said goodbye, he was off to Austin that afternoon and I would continue to stay in Dallas with Douchka. I caught the train to Fort Worth, I had heard that I could see real cowboys there. Well I had heard right! There is an area in Fort Worth called the "Stockyards" where originally there were stock yards, surprise surprise. Now it's a collection of shops, restaurants and what is left of the yards. Twice a day, weather permitting, they drive a small herd of long horn cattle through the streets, with real cowboys doing the driving. I didn't see any attractive cowboys but I got to touch a long horn cow, it was cool! I did have the chance to sit on one, but my nerve failed me. After the "grit" of the cows I went to get some more culture because heaven knows I haven't been to nearly enough museums yet! I went to the Kimbell art museum, I got to see some good European paintings, a bit of modern art and the only Michelangelo painting in the U.S.. It is a beautiful painting, but philistine that I am I enjoyed sitting outside in the sunshine, dangling my feet in the fountain more. It was a glorious day and I am getting tired of running around and trying to cross things off my list. However I know that if I don't do some of these things I will regret it and who is to say when or if I will be able to return. Seize the day is the motto.
With that in mind I met up with Douchka and I went with her to the yoga class that she teaches. I enjoyed the class and surprised myself, I was able to do most of the poses and they really do give you a good stretch and work out. Afterwards we went to a vegetarian restaurant inside a Hare Krishna temple. The food was excellent and even better for sitting and eating outside. I could drink the Tamarind tea all day. That night I had one of the best nights sleep I've ever had. Maybe I should take up yoga.